updated: Tuesday May 9th. 2.30pm (official police report)
Somewhere in or near Burrell Boom village, there is someone banging on some very tough locks and hardened steel, probably with a crow-bar and mall.
On Sunday night or the wee hours of Monday morning May 7th. or 8th. thieves broke into a small room adjoining ‘Hellen Wu Store” in Burrell Boom and stole the entire ATM Machine belonging to Heritage Bank.
The culprits reportedly disabled the surveillance cameras and took the ATM Machine that was presumably bolted to the concrete floor.
The manufacturers of ATMs have spent years to make them impenetrable, and the thieves will have a hard time getting to the cash locked in a steel case.
Some years ago i read an article that said that ATMs are designed by thieves, and you would have to be very skilled to break into an ATM Machine, but in this case the entire machine was stolen.
But what if the machine was empty ? – The investigators are scanning Facebook classified looking for frustrated thieves trying to sell hardened scrap-metal from an ATM, LOL.
The people in Burrell Boom and customers of Heritage Bank will now loose the convenience of ATM service in their area.
UPDATE: Tuesday, May 9th. 2.30pm
Official Police Report
Burglary
On Monday, May 8,2023, at about 9:00 a.m., police responded to a report at Hellen Wu Store in Burrell Boom Village, Belize District.
Upon arrival, they spoke to Darion Palacio, 25-year-old, Belizean Technician for Heritage Bank who reported that, at about 8:00 a.m., he was informed that the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) room was burglarized.
Upon making checks he noticed that the entire ATM machine belonging to Heritage bank along with an undisclosed amount of money in cash was missing. Initial investigation revealed that access to the ATM was gained from the main door since the ATM has a 24 hours service and four male persons were observed entering the compound and stealing the ATM.
Police are investigating.